


By Any Means Necessary

by kelex



Category: Smallville
Genre: M/M, episode-related
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-10-08
Updated: 2003-10-08
Packaged: 2017-11-01 08:05:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/354150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kelex/pseuds/kelex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lionel wants his son back and will deal with anyone he has to to make it happen.  (also contains possible spoilers for Exile)</p>
            </blockquote>





	By Any Means Necessary

## By Any Means Necessary

by Kel

<http://kelex.popullus.net/smallville.html>

* * *

For about the hundredth time, Lionel looked at the telephone sitting on the desk in front of him. He knew, through various sources, that the missing Kent boy was in Metropolis. Not being very careful of his background, but Lionel couldn't be bothered to worry about that. The only thing he was worried about was getting his son back. 

He'd been given this phone number by an old associate--Lionel wouldn't exactly call him friend, because he wouldn't trust Morgan Edge out of his sight, but this was a rather drastic situation. He tapped the white card on the desk several times before committing to this line of action. He picked up the phone, resolutely dialed the number, and waited for an answer. 

* * *

The music in Clark's apartment was loud. Too loud, probably, but he didn't care. It wasn't like anyone could tell him to turn it down anymore. He laughed at whatever the blond beside him had just said, ran his toes up the open thighs of the redhead across the hot tub from him, and then cursed loudly when he heard the phone. "Be right back." Didn't bother to wrap a towel around his dripping body because he knew housekeeping would clean it up later, and he grabbed the phone on the fourth ring. "Yeah, what do you want?" 

"I have a job for you, Kal. Mr. Edge said--" 

"Fuck, you want to talk business? Okay. Call this number in about five minutes." Kal rattled off the number for the closest pay phone. "I'll be there." He hung up the phone, swearing again because he knew the voice but couldn't place it with only ten words. He picked up the black shirt from the edge of the bed and threw it on, not bothering to button it up. The scar on his chest itched as his skin moved, but he didn't scratch at it. 

He didn't remember the names of the people in the hot tub. Fuck. Yes, he did... the guy, the redhead... Drave. "Drave. You and your sister? Cool it here for a while. I gotta go take a call. Maybe have a job. I'll be back." 

They weren't listening; they were already making out with each other, and Kal snorted. He tugged on jeans just enough to not have anything hanging out, and sped down to the phone booth, waiting for it to ring. He didn't have to wait long; precisely five minutes later, the phone rang. 

"Kal?" 

"Fuckin' took you long enough," Kal groused. "Been waitin' for three minutes. What's the job?" 

"There's a missing person I need to find. My son." 

Kal blinked. "Lionel Luthor. How did you get my number? What do you want?" Then what he'd said penetrated. His son. Lex. "Lex is missing? I thought he was living the happy life as Mr. Dr. Bryce?" There was bitterness in the tone. 

Lionel didn't miss it. "Unfortunately not, Kal." Wince, and it was an emotional stab to still-open wounds. "As he and Helen went on their honeymoon... their plane apparently went down. Helen... managed to escape unharmed, while my son..." Lionel's voice broke, just a bit. "While Lex has disappeared entirely. I have looked, all along the flight path, but there has been no sign." 

Kal nodded. "Serves the fucking bastard right for getting involved with that bitch." More bitterness, and even as he fought not to care, he did. "I'll find him. You know the fee?" 

"It doesn't matter. Yes, I know it. You'll get anything you want provided you bring Lex back to me alive." Lionel's hand tightened on the phone receiver again, and his knuckles were almost white. "I guarantee it." 

"All right. What's the fastest you can get me the specs? Plane size, flight plan, destination, all that happy horseshit?" Kal banged his head gently on the side of the phone booth. "And a hundred k, up front." 

"Done. I can fax you the details as soon as you tell me where." Lionel tapped the envelope of papers by his elbow with his pen as he talked. 

"There's a Kinko's down the street that I use. Send it there, care of Kal. I'm on my way to pick it up. Fax number's 336-555-6924." Kal ran his hands through his unkempt mop. "I'll leave Metropolis in about an hour. You clear it with Edge." 

"It's already cleared," Lionel replied, feeding the sheets into the machine and punching in the fax number as Clark reeled it off. "The fax is sending and the information is confidential." 

"Don't worry; the people there won't blab it. I'll pick up, pack a few things, and I'm gone. You still in Smallville?" He sighed. "I'll call you when I have something to report. You call and bug me? The deal's off. I work alone, and I work my way. You get the results, and you don't question." 

"Understood." It rankled Lionel to be dictated to by some seventeen year old brat who couldn't control his impulses, but it was the power behind those impulses that he was buying, and with it, hopefully his son's life. "I won't call and I won't interfere." 

"Good. You're learning." Kal hung up on him, just because he could, and as soon as he did, he snarled. At the world in general, at Lex, at Helen, and his fist balled up on it's own. He pounded the side of the shatterproof phone booth, making the little box rock as he pitched his tantrum at the world, finally shattering the glass as he put his fist all the way through it, and he slammed out of the broken booth as he stalked down the sidewalk. 

_don't do it, he hates you, he picked her, he doesn't deserve it, don't do it, he doesn't want you._

Kal clapped his hands to the side of his head and growled at the voices. "Shut up!" he yelled, and the few people on the deserted streets were used to ignoring the explosions from this particular young man. "Shut the fuck up and leave me alone!!" But he knew they wouldn't. Wouldn't leave him alone until he took the ring off, and sometimes he did, just to get peace and quiet in his mind. But it never lasted long, and the ring was soon back on his finger. 

*not worthy, doesn't want, doesn't need, doesn't _like_ you* 

Kal ignored the voices then, baring his teeth at his own reflection as he passed by a darkened store window. Ignored the cold red eyes staring back at him, and almost ripped the door off the hinges as he went into the copy store. "Got my fax?" 

"Right here," answered the guy behind the desk, and he slid the papers into a manila envelope. "There's also a wire here, for a lot of money that we can't cover." 

Kal snatched it. "Fine, I'll take it elsewhere." He shoved the wire in his pocket and jerked the envelope out of the man's hands. Slammed the door behind him and started thumbing through the pages, reading fast and committing the information to memory before setting the envelope on fire with a blink of his eyes and dropping the burning stack of paper into the nearest trash can. 

Stomped back up the steps to his apartment, and turned off the stereo as he walked in the door. "Get the fuck out of my house." Didn't bother to look and see if they were following his orders, just stalked to the closet and dug out a demure little shoulder case, and put two shirts, two pairs of jeans, and a pair of boots in the bag. Left plenty of room for the money, tossed in the empty ring box just in case, and turned around. The two people in the Jacuzzi were staring at him. "What, you want a fucking engraved invitation? Get your sorry asses outta my tub, and outta my house. Now." He pointed to the door. "Move." 

He ignored the ranting and raving of the naked couple as they splashed out of the tub, drying off and dressing in the scanty clothes they'd had on when they came and squabbled over the mascara. Kal had had enough. He picked up the bag their clothes were in, and sent it sailing through the front door with a single kick. He took the man by the scruff of the neck and heaved him out the door, then tossed the woman out behind him, slamming the door once they were gone. 

Quiet. Kal flung himself down on the bed, listening to the steel posts creak as he did, and rubbed the heels of his hands over his eyes. _Asslicking sons of fucking bitches._ Felt slightly better after grinding his eyes back into their sockets for a few minutes, then picked up the phone beside the bed. Dialed Luthor's number in Smallville. "I got the papers, and they're gone. Burned. I've got it memorized. Kinko's couldn't cash the wire, so I'm taking it to the bank in the morning. I'll be in Houston by then; call and make it happen." He hung up without giving Lionel a chance to react, and then put his feet back on the floor. The scar on his chest started to burn, and he rubbed over it. "Stop, you motherfucker, stop it. I'm not going to do what you want, You don't control me anymore, I'm going to find my friend!" Bellowed it to the scar pulsing on his chest. 

_you don't have friends. nobody wants you. nobody loves you. they don't need you. they haven't found you. they don't care._

That was it. Kal's booted feet thunked on the floor of the apartment as he grabbed the bag. "Fuck you!" he yelled. "You aren't going to control me!" He threw the bag over his shoulder, so the strap crossed his chest and hung from the opposite hip, and barely remembered to lock the door behind him before he ran. 

* * *

Daybreak dawned, and Kal was sitting outside the airport security office. Houston's airport had been the last US stop that Lex's LuthorCorp jet had been scheduled to make, and they'd made it, refueled without incident, and taken off. 

That's where Kal's search was going to begin. He had the money in his pocket; as soon as he'd crossed the Houston city limits, he'd been stopped by a LuthorCorp van and given a small bag, containing the hundred thousand dollars in small bills and a few electronic gadgets, including a cell phone. It was zipped in his bag, he had circumvented the airport's security easily, and now, he wanted in the office to read the passenger manifests and such for himself. 

And ask a few questions. He had a picture of Helen, and of Lex, that had been in with the money, and he couldn't help thinking to himself that the old geezer had been well prepared for this. He thrummed his fingers lightly on the door, which left little finger-tip size dents in it, and when his little patience ran out, he ripped the doors off the hinges and went into the office. Kal propped his feet up on the desk, picked out the logs for the date in question, and started to read. Didn't know what he'd expected to find, but found it quickly enough. Someone had noted in the maintenance logs that one of the three people on the plane hadn't gotten back on the plane. 

How Lionel's people had missed it Kal didn't know, but he stuffed the log into his bag. He swung his feet down, and as he got up, several security guards filled the little doorway. "What now? I wait all fuckin' morning for you people to show up, you never do, so I let myself in and what do you know? Here you are!" Kal made sure the log book was safely tucked into the bag before he ran out the door, throwing the guards left and right as he moved too quickly for them to see. Once he was out of their range, he pulled the book out of his bag again, but before he could read, he heard the intruder alert being blared over the loudspeakers. 

He barely restrained himself from doing a little dance, because finally, he'd gotten somebody's fucking attention. Instead, he just stayed leaned against one of the drink machines in the lounge, flipping quietly through the book and evading their notice as he looked for the name of the person who'd filed the report. He found it three pages later, at the bottom of the shift report. Thurber Halsted. 

Kal calmly pocketed the book again, and walked up to the nearest customer service booth. "Hi, could you please tell me if Thurber Halsted is working today?" 

The young woman behind the desk tittered softly as she flipped through the day's schedule. "I'm sorry, Mr. Halsted isn't scheduled today. Can I help you with anything?" 

"Yeah, you can." Kal almost suggested a blow job behind the desk, but restrained himself. "I need to talk to Mr. Halsted about an incident in the log books a month and a half ago." He flashed a disarming smile. 

The girl blushed at the smile, but shook her head a little. "I can't provide that kind of information, Mr...." She let it trail off, waiting for Kal to supply a last name. 

"Sullivan," he said, without batting an eye. "Kal Sullivan." 

"Mr. Sullivan." Another little titter. "I can't give that out, but if you'd like to leave a number here, I can have Mr. Halsted call you when he comes in to work?" 

"No, thanks, baby." Kal gave her a smile, and used his x-ray vision to casually examine the contents of the desk. Found the schedule taped up to the side of the console, and a list of employee phone numbers beside it. Memorized the Halsted number, and straightened up. "I'm leaving town tonight; I'll be in touch with Mr. Halsted myself a little later. Thank you, though; I'll make sure that the personnel director knows what a good job you're doing." Another disarming smile, and Kal disappeared. 

He was running full tilt until he stopped at one of the pay-per-use internet terminals in the airport. He fed the machine money, watched it light up, and dug through the internet sites until he found what he wanted. White pages online, and he got the Halsted man's address off the screen. Memorized it, then pulled out the log book and scribbled the address there by the name, just in case, along with the phone number. Tucking the book back away, Kal grinned. Maybe he was going to get somewhere after all. 

* * *

Kal bounded off the porch of the Halsted residence with a grin on his face. The man had been more than cooperative when shown the money, and for only fifteen thousand bucks, Kal had secured the information he needed. Halsted had identified Helen's picture as the person who'd gotten off the plane in Houston and stayed behind, and Kal gave him an extra five hundred dollars to pay for the long distance phone call he'd put in to Lionel. It was a brief, terse call, with no names but Helen's exchanged, and he told Lionel exactly what he'd learned before hanging up. 

Thanks to the stolen log book, he knew the trajectory of the plane, where it should have been going, and he had a boat waiting for him to take him out onto the water. He had to meet the captain in Galveston, but he didn't intend to keep the man long. All he needed was a boat to cover the water. He could look just fine by himself. 

Kal adjusted the strap over his shoulder, made sure the bag was flush against his hip, and pulled out a brand new pair of sunglasses. He grinned as they slid on over his eyes, and he pushed the ring further onto his hands. He hadn't heard the voices all morning and he intended for it to stay that way. His scar hadn't tingled since he left Metropolis, and he realized he had to be out of range of whatever it was. Hot damn. 

Suddenly, search aside, the rest of the world was looking shiny and very, very new. 

* * *

Kal had solved the captaincy problem by tossing the man overboard when he hadn't wanted to surrender control of the boat. So instead of wasting valuable time bickering, he'd heaved the captain over the side--in a lifejacket, because he wasn't completely inconsiderate--and took the boat out himself. He was following the map in his head, his hands piloting automatically as his eyes scanned. They were pointed down at the water, x-raying through the choppy surf and deep blue water as he searched for the wreckage of Lex's plane anywhere over the projected flight path. 

He was tapping the bottom of his ring against the boat steering wheel as he steered, and then pulled the boat up short. He dug through his bag, coming up with a blank sheet of paper, and did a quick drawing of the map Lionel had provided and compared it to the flight path that had been filed. They were close enough as to have been identical, except for one thing. The path that had been filed in Texas made a sweeping turn to the west, supposedly to avoid turbulence, but there had been nothing reported that day. There was nothing on Lionel's map, either, and Kal turned the boat west. 

It took three hours of top-speed cruising to get to the divergence, but as soon as the boat got there, Kal dropped the anchor, and started to scan. Sure enough, there was the wreckage of the plane, and in the distance, probably another two to three hours ride, was an island not on the chart. Leaving the boat anchored and the engine turned off to reserve fuel, Kal zipped the little water-tight bag shut, tucking it into the hold and diving into the water. Took no time as he swam deep, churning up a huge wake as he dove. 

He knew, thanks to the information that Lionel had provided, what he was looking for. Nobody in the dive team had been able to find the airplane's black box. It was buried too deep, under the wreckage and in the seabed, so the beacon had told them. This wasn't a problem for Kal, and he waded into the twisted metal, heaving it to the side with little effort. The water's weight and resistance was not an issue, compared to Kal's strength, and combining that with his x-ray vision, it took a relatively short time to find the flight recorder. 

Occasionally Kal was kicking to the surface for deep breaths, but when he found the data recorder, he didn't bother to surface again until he had possession of it. His head broke the water and he swam back over to the plane, boosting himself onto the side and climbing up the side of the ship until booted feet landed on the deck. He shook his hair dry, and turned his heat vision on, drying his clothes in a matter of seconds. 

The flight recorder clattered to the deck as Kal's scar started to burn, and he fell to his knees beside it. He groaned loudly, rubbing his hand over his chest as it tormented him. 

_why are you going through all of this trouble, kal-el? these people do not love you, they do not want you, they are only using you? why do you go through so much trouble to fetch back one of their kind, when if you would just believe, you could be ruling them all?_

Kal dragged his fingers through his hair before ripping his shirt open. "Goddamn you, leave me the fuck alone!" he bellowed. "He's worth more than all the rest of the lousy fucking people on this planet!" 

_no he's not. he's just like the rest, kal-el. replaceable. expendable._

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Kal wrenched himself to his feet, and clawed at his burning chest. "Leave me ALONE!" The scream caused little tremors on the ocean floor, sending the small shock waves up to rock the boat. Kal grabbed for the side rail of the ship and rode the waves out, then found silence. The voice had shut up, for now. 

He snatched the bag from the deck and hauled it underneath, to the captain's cabin. He'd commandeered it for himself, and flung himself down on the little bed as he cracked open the case on the flight recorder. The actual mechanism itself didn't look too frightening, just an assembly of parts, and Kal took the interface out of the bag. There were detailed, detailed instructions on how to use it and what the telemetry meant, and Kal ignored it all as he plugged in and started to read. "Bullshit, bullshit... wait, what the fuck is this?" He'd paged through most of the flight data in seconds, but what caught his attention was the fact that the automatic pilot had been turned on, and a course locked in. Then the telemetry abruptly stopped, as though the panels had been destroyed. 

Then, when the recorder itself started to play back... silence, for nearly fifteen minutes as he sat there listening to it. Then, Lex's voice calling out. "Helen?" 

Kal very nearly threw the interface through the side of the boat, except he needed it to find out what was going on. In the background, he heard the engines cut out entirely, Lex call out Helen's name again, and then nothing. 

He stared at the interface for a long time, replaying the recording twice, straining his hearing for anything he'd missed the first time, but nothing. He shut it off, and then picked up the cell phone. Sighing deeply, he called Smallville. 

* * *

Lionel was in the middle of a meeting with Dominic and two other members of the Metropolis City Council when the phone rang. He ignored it through three rings, before he realized it was his private line, and who would be calling. "Excuse me, gentlemen," he said brusquely, and rose to pick up the phone. He carried the headset into his side office, and closed the door. "Kal?" 

"None other. I found the little black box," came the reply. "And somebody fucked Lex over but _good._ I plugged into the thing like the directions said, and about half the telemetry is missing. Not just that? Lex was alone on the plane, and the engines cut out. From the way the numbers look, the automatic pilot was switched on, and a course locked in. Then whomever else was on had to have bugged out, because Lex was the only person on, and the panels were not sending their data, so I'm guessing they were smashed." 

"Helen?" Lionel asked softly. 

"Might have masterminded it, but the bitch wasn't on the plane. Nobody but Lex was when it went down." A pause. "Wasn't a body with the wreckage, so I'm guessin' he's still alive. There's an island not far off, gonna check it out, see if the current runs that way and see if that's where your boy is." 

Lionel shook his head. "We've already searched that island. We found nothing, not even wreckage." 

Kal bristled. "You telling me how to run my show? Cause I can go right now, and you can do this your own way." 

Lionel realized his error immediately. "No, of course not. I was just trying to save you some trouble, that's all." 

"Right. It's my trouble. I'm going to look, and if you don't like it, find someone else. Got it?" 

Lionel couldn't even find it in himself to grit his teeth at the youth. "As long as you find him... I don't care what you do." 

Fuck. Kal swore mentally. "I'll find him. He just better be worth it." He turned the phone off to save the battery, and looked in the captain's closet. There were clothes in there, but none of them would be even close to fitting Lex. He cursed again, and then opened his bag. There were two changes of clothes in there, and he laid one out in the other cabin, along with the spare boots he'd brought along, and the captain's socks. Underwear he'd have to live without. 

Climbing back up on deck, Kal turned his face to the sun and soaked it up. The warm sun felt soothing on his bare chest, and the wind whipped around him, billowing the loose material of his shirt around his body as he held his arms out to the side. He closed his eyes as he turned his face to the gentle rays, and he hissed in soothed pleasure as it calmed the burning in his chest. After a long moment of that, he cranked the boat back up and turned the wheel, pointing it towards the uncharted but supposedly already-searched island. 

* * *

On the island, he raised his head and sniffed the air out of habit. Nothing came by way of smell, but his ears heard it. There was a boat coming. A boat had people on it, and people had tried to kill him. He didn't want to be found. 

Moving fast, he pulled down the palm branches that held his shelter open and let the door fall, making the small shelter look like nothing more than a tangle of branch and weed. He buried his food, what was left of it anyway, raw fish and half a coconut full of milk, in a sand covered pit and closed the rock on top of it to protect it. 

And then he fled. 

* * *

Kal had anchored the ship as close to the coast as he could, and, in deference to the fact that he hoped to be bringing someone else with him, he took the little motor launch to the actual shore, and then dragged it up on the beach. As soon as he landed, he put his hands on his hips and looked around. "LEX!" he called out, at the top of his voice. "LEX!!" 

Lex. Yes, Lex. That was his name, after all. And he knew that voice. He couldn't put a name to it, yet, but he knew it. His head peeked out of his safe haven, peering at the other man on the beach. 

"Lex, come on!" Kal yelled again, listening and sweeping the foliage around him for signs of life. He found it up in one of the trees, hidden against the hollow of the trunk. A human skeleton, with a beating heart, and he narrowed his focus and Lex came into view. 

His stomach wrenched. Lex was so much the worse for wear; dirty and ragged, a wild look in his eyes, his skin blistered, bloody and peeling. He was so skinny, and Kal was careful not to stop at Lex's tree. "LEX!" 

Yes, he was Lex. And that, that was Clark. Yes, Clark. Memories of Clark flooded his mind, a name finally put to the handsome face that had been haunting him. Clark saved his life. That was Clark's job. That was why Clark was here. But he still didn't move from the tree. There was a feeling of distrust there, associated with Clark's name and Clark's face, and he didn't know which was going to win, the feeling of love and trust, or the feeling of distrust. He was poised in the tree to flee. 

Kal moved closer to the trunk of Lex's tree, without making it clear he knew what he was doing. "Come on, Lex! If you can hear me, give me a sign, dammit!" 

Lex blinked owlishly at Clark as he stood under the tree. Clark didn't dress like this, Clark wore flannel and jeans and work boots. But then another picture of Clark came, in a black jacket and driving a Ferrari, and a skitter of hot excitement skated up Lex's spine. More feelings of trust, and the need to take care of Clark filled his mind, and he dropped down from the tree, landing roughly on all fours and not even yelping anymore as his knee twisted under him. 

"Lex!!" Kal moved fast, but he wasn't quite fast enough to catch Lex. Lex jumped back, and Kal froze. Anger and relief warred in his mind, anger at Lex for what he'd done and relief to find him alive after all this, and the relief won out. He shot forward at top speed and wrapped his arms around Lex, and kissed him. 

Lex started to kick and struggle, but the part of his brain that knew Clark took over, and he relaxed, not exactly returning the kiss but not rebuffing the kiss either. His hands tentatively stroked at Clark's back, and then he was released. "Clark?" he croaked, and was surprised to hear sound coming out of his voice. "You... what are you doing here?" 

As soon as Kal felt Lex starting to respond, he let him go. The relief was overcome with his anger, and he glared. "I'm looking for you! What the hell are you doing here, Lex? Your father said he searched already and they didn't find anything!!" 

Lex nodded. "People came. I hid." He stroked Clark's arm lightly. "You're not people. You're Clark. Clark is safe." 

"Jesus fucking Christ!" He jerked Lex's arm up and made him look at it. "Do you see this? The dirt? The sunburn? Christ, Lex, I'm going to kill you!" 

Lex cringed, and started to run. Clark was bad. Clark was going to hurt him. 

Kal sighed and sped up, ending up in front of Lex and plucking him up by the scruff of the neck. "I'm not going to hurt you." _No matter how much you fucking deserve it!_ "Calm down, Lex." Kal gave in to his baser impulse and hugged Lex. "Calm down." 

Calm. Lex fought for a minute, struggled against Clark's strength, and then he was engulfed in strong arms and a broad chest. He gave in, too, and sagged against Clark. "I don't want to die here." 

"You won't." He looked over to the motor launch. "Come on. Let's get back to the ship, and I can take you home." Kal's patience was starting to wane, and he was getting a little testy. He wanted to dump Lex on the ship, and take him home. 

Lex shook his head. "No. They'll try and hurt me again." 

Kal's grip tightened involuntarily, and he let go when Lex yelped. "Nobody will. I'll protect you." Inward eye roll, but if it got Lex moving, then that was good. "You're sick, Lex, and you're hurt. You need a doctor." 

"Doctor." More synapses flickered, more memories filtered back in as he was treated like a human for the first time in months. "Toby." 

"That's right. Toby's your doctor." He sighed. "I'll make you a deal. I'll get you back to the States, and we'll find somewhere safe to go. But you can't stay here, Lex." 

A little whimper, but he nodded. Here was safe, but here meant dying. He didn't want to die, and he trusted Clark. "Okay." 

Kal started walking towards the launch, helping Lex along. He saved the examination of Lex's knee for later, and sick of the slow progress they were making, he swept Lex up in his arms and _carried_ him to the boat. "When was the last time you slept?" 

Lex blinked. "I sleep during the day. And move at night. Too hot to move during the day, and it hurts." 

Yeah, Kal guessed it _would_ hurt, having the sun beating down on those blisters. "I bet. Come on. You can sleep until we get back to the mainland. I'll wake you up when we're there, and I'll find us a place to go. I've got clothes for you, a bed, and you can shower." 

"Shower?" Lex blinked dully. "Bathe." 

"Right," Kal answered, and then looked at Lex again. "I'll help you." He looked down at the red ring on it's finger, and even as he looked at it, he could feel it's effects thrumming in his blood. He wanted Lex. He had always wanted Lex, and he was fighting the urge to take this shattered shell. Because it wasn't Lex. He'd have him when Lex was whole again. 

"Help me?" Lex was stunned by the concept, even as he seemed to be recovering more of his wits with every second. "Why would you help me? I thought you were angry with me?" 

"I am. I'm furious with you, in fact." A windy sigh, and he reached out and stroked Lex's flinching cheek. "But you're my Lex, no matter what else. Of course I'm going to help you." 

That answer satisfied Lex for the moment, and he settled into the boat beside Clark as the engine roared to life. "Clark, what--" 

"Don't call me that," Kal said softly. "My name is Kal, not Clark." His eyes flicked down to the ring. "At least right now. Maybe permanently." 

Lex's eyes flicked down to the ring too but he didn't say anything. The further away he got from the island, the more like himself he felt. There was another human being here for him to talk to, one he knew and one he trusted. "There's hot water?" 

Kal had to laugh. There was the Lex he knew. "Yeah, baby, there's hot water." He reached out and gently stroked Lex's scalp, using it to pull Lex close to him. "There's more than enough. And if there's not, I can make more for you." He kissed Lex's head gently. "Let's get you back to the ship. We'll get you cleaned up and then, we'll get you to the mainland, with a real tub, and real food, okay?" 

"Okay." Lex just nodded, and let Clark--no, Kal--hold him. 

* * *

Once they were back on the skiff he'd commandeered, Kal carried Lex underneath to the captain's cabin, and ran the little tub full of hot water. "I'm going to make a phone call. Then I'm going to bring you back something to eat and drink while you're soaking, and then, we'll get you cleaned up, okay?" 

Lex's hand closed around Kal's wrist like a steel band, surprisingly strong for having gone through his ordeal. "Don't tell anyone you found me." 

Kal carefully pried Lex's hand loose. "Don't worry, Lex. I've got things under control; nobody's going to fuck with you again on my watch." He paused. "I promise." 

Lex nodded. "Okay." He was still suspicious of the phone call, but he let Kal reassure him. This was still Clark, because he was protecting Lex, but it also wasn't Clark. "Kal?" 

Kal stopped in the doorway of the cabin. "Yeah, Lex?" 

"How'd you get the scar on your chest?" He didn't look at Kal when he asked it, because he recognized it as one of the symbols on the metal key he'd had last year, and as one of the symbols on the wall of the caves. 

"Long story," Kal said shortly. "Don't worry about it." He buttoned his shirt up, hiding the scar from Lex's view. "I'll be back in a minute. If you need anything, yell." He picked the cell phone up off the bed as he walked out of the captain's cabin, and took the three steps over to the too-small galley as he opened the fridge. He dialed as he inspected the contents, pulling out orange juice and bottled water, knowing Lex to drink both of those, and then pulled out bread, cheese, and whatever sandwich meat was in the crisper. 

"Lionel Luthor's office," came a crisply accented voice. "I'm sorry, but Mr. Luthor has stepped out of the office for a moment, could I take a message, Kal?" 

Kal blinked, then realized nobody else must have the number. "Yeah, tell him I've got his kid." Kal went to hang up, but the voice stopped him. "What?" 

"You realize, of course, that we will require proof of some sort?" Dominic blinked on the other end of the line, wishing for Lionel to hurry and return. 

Kal glared at the phone. "What, my fuckin' word's not good enough for you? Take your tea, shove it up your pansy ass, and tell Luthor that I found his fuckin' kid." He hung up the phone and shoved it in his pocket. 

Once he'd tucked the phone away, he sped through the process of making sandwiches, and piled them on a tray with a glass of orange juice and a bottle of water, and carried that back into the captain's cabin. He barely got a few steps in the bedroom before the scar on his chest started to burn again, and Kal gritted his teeth. He didn't scream because he knew that would only spook Lex, and his grip nearly splintered the tray as he sat it down on the corner of the bed. 

_why are you doing this, kal-el? you will learn, he is worthless to you. destroy him now, and find another like him. the woman didn't even want him; why do you want the castoffs of another not even of your race? he chose another over you, and you continue to beg at his knee like a dog._

Kal rammed his head against the steel door, denting it and almost crumpling it. _Shut the fuck up,_ he hissed in his head. _I'm not going to let you scare him!_

Too late. Lex already was. He'd jumped to his feet--good foot, anyway, as his knee gave way, and he was balancing on one foot and the edge of the tub. "Cl--Kal? Are you all right? What was that?" 

Kal gave a little groan as the scar burned all the hotter on his chest for being ignored. "Nothing, Lex. Sit back down; I've got your lunch." He picked the tray back up and carried it into the bathroom. "Sit back down," he said a little more firmly. "I'm okay." 

Lex shook his head, and reached out, touching Kal's temple. Kal winced, and when Lex held his fingers up, they were smeared with blood. Kal's fingers rubbed unbelievingly at his temple, and was surprised when he felt pain again. "I've never seen you bleed before," Lex said softly, still holding his hand out to Kal. 

Kal's tongue snaked out and licked the blood from Lex's fingertips. "It's nothing." He held the water bottle out to Lex. "Here. Settle back down, try this. If you can hold it down, then I've got orange juice for you." The scar was burning so hotly that Kal was certain it was going to burn a hole through his shirt. "Please, Lex. I promise, I'm all right." His patience was already wearing thin because of the pain and the voice in his head, and he didn't want to snap at Lex. 

Lex watched Kal warily, and he lowered himself back into the tub, taking the bottle of still water as it was offered to him and twisting the cap off easily. He took a little sip, and cold, clean, crisp water washed over his parched tongue. Denied clean water for so long, Lex's instinct was to gulp it, but he didn't, instead drinking it in small sips to allow his belly to get used to it. 

"Good," Kal said softly, wincing as he got on his knees beside the tub and his shirt scraped against the scalding scar. He took the soft washcloth and soaped it gently, and took one of Lex's hands in his. "Here. Let me see... there we go." He scrubbed, gently but firmly, and as the layers of caked dirt, mud, blood and flaked-off skin washed away, it exposed the tender, new skin beneath it. "There's my Lex." 

Lex looked down at his hand as though he didn't recognize it, and he kept drinking the water Kal had given him. 

* * *

Kal had finally left Lex tucked into bed an hour ago, sleeping off the bath and the lunch he'd eaten. Only two sandwiches, but he'd held them both down, along with the water and the orange juice. He'd slipped into the jeans and the shirt that Kal had left him, not even seeming to notice that he was dwarfed in the larger clothes. He'd crawled into the bed, let Kal cover him up, and had fallen almost immediately asleep. 

As soon as Lex was asleep, Kal staggered onto the deck, and tore his shirt open. Let the sun boil down on his overheated flesh and he could feel the burning dying down in the sun's rays, but the voice was still hounding him. 

_he is dangerous, kal-el. he is a danger to you; you must rid yourself of this creature, this pitiful being before he has a chance to harm you._

Kal couldn't help it. He exploded. "No, goddammit, no! He's my friend! Fuck you, because of you, he's all that I've got left! I lost everything good in my life because of you and I've got nothing! No family, no friends, nothing but Lex, and you're NOT going to make me give him up! You're not! You _can't!_ " 

_he will hurt you, kal-el. he will destroy you if he had the chance. listen to me, he had been a danger to you for all the time you have known him. he seeks to know your secret and he will use it to destroy you. that cannot happen. he will be destroyed first. when his female abandoned him, providence put him in our path and he was destroyed. the conveyance he was in was caused to crash into the sea and he was abandoned there to perish. he must die, kal-el. he must not hold sway over you._

"No! Why? Why are you so afraid of him? Why are you afraid of Lex?" Kal pressed his palms over his ear, curled fetally against the railing as he tried to battle out the words of the voice in his head. "Why are you afraid of him? Tell me! TELL ME!" 

_because he stands in the way of your destiny, kal-el. you will never take your rightful place as long as he lives._

"No!" Kal bellowed it, and then his body jerked as he felt a hand on his shoulder. Instinct dictated his reaction, and he threw the other person off, sending him flying across the boat. "Lex!" 

Lex stayed where he'd been thrown, against the opposite railing, and rubbed the back of his head. "I heard you yelling; Kal, what's going on?" His eyes fell to the open shirt, where the scar was writhing and pulsing visibly. He straightened up, and when Kal didn't make a move to throw him off, he crossed the deck of the ship. "Are you okay?" 

"Yeah, I'm just fuckin' dandy." He pulled himself up to his feet with help from the deck railing, and started buttoning his shirt. "What are you doing up here?" 

Lex pulled his hand back from Kal's arm, but didn't move from his spot. "I told you; I heard you yelling. I thought somebody might have been on the ship with us." He paused. "Is somebody trying to hurt me?" 

Kal swore colorfully. "No, nobody's going to hurt you again." Little growl as he said it. "Come on, you need to get back to bed and I need to get this thing back to the marina and find somewhere for us to stay. I'd take you back to Metropolis but you're not safe there. You're not going to be safe anywhere I am, come to think of it, but I'm not going to let anything happen to you again." 

Lex limped over the deck, and sat down on the hard little bench in the dip behind the captain's wheel. "I'm fine, Kal. I can rest here." 

Kal knew the sun had to be hurting Lex's skin, but if he wanted to stay out in it, that was fine with him. "Here, at least move on the other side, where there's some shade." Once he was sure Lex was settled in, he pulled the anchor up on the boat and started it back towards the harbor. 

* * *

Lex didn't fall asleep again until they were on land, and in a car. A stolen car, but a car nonetheless, and Kal had traded license plates with a parked delivery van two cities ago at Lex's advice, and now, they were cruising 1-45 towards Dallas, because Kal had contacts in Dallas. 

He was tapping the red Kryptonite ring against the steering wheel as he drove, humming along to the radio and bouncing his butt in the seat. He'd only stopped for gas once, and while he was there filling up, he'd gone into the little restaurant that had been attached, and came out with sandwiches and sweet tea for himself and Lex. He came out to find Lex feeding money into the machine to pay for the gas and putting the nozzle back on the pump. "You must be feelin' better." 

Lex gave a little nod. "Kind of. Kal..." He took a breath. "Take the ring off. You... haven't been acting yourself since you've had it on, and--" 

"No," Kal replied shortly. "Get in or I'll leave you behind." He folded his long legs into the driver's seat and pulled his torso in after him, leaving Lex with the bag full of food and an open door. "Well?" he demanded, cranking the engine and revving it. "Get the fuck in the car." 

Lex gave a little shake of his head and got into the car, and set the sandwiches in the floor between his feet as he put the two foam cups of tea in the cup holders. He left the subject of the ring alone, for now. "Where are we going?" 

"Dallas," Kal answered shortly. "My boss has contacts there that'll give us a safe place to crash, at least for the night, and I can figure out what the hell is going on." 

"All right." Most of the quiet fuzziness had fallen from Lex's speech after his nap on the ship and several meals of real food and contact with civilization again, such as it was. He was still having trouble not flinching from everyone who approached him, but with the Luthor resolve he'd somehow recovered, he was working through it. "How long until we get there?" 

"In this heap? Close to nightfall." Kal's fingers kept drumming on the steering wheel. "If we weren't in a car, we'd been there hours ago." 

The heap in question was a fairly new make of Pontiac Firebird, and Lex just shook his head. He'd seen... he didn't know what he'd seen. But it supported what he'd been thinking about Clark all along. "Why won't you take it off?" 

"Because it's mine," Kal answered shortly, keeping his foot on the gas. They were making fairly decent time, all things considered, and he was keeping their speed right at a hundred and ten. "Because I don't want to take it off, because I like the way it makes me feel, how many more reasons you need?" 

Lex just shrugged. "I don't like you when you're like this." 

Kal gave a sharp bark of laughter. "Doesn't really matter what you like, big man. What matters is what I like, and right now, I like me, I like my ring, and I definitely like you. So what's going to happen is this: we're gonna go to Dallas, we're gonna sleep the night out, maybe part of the morning if I don't feel like getting up, and once I do wake up, I'm gonna get you something to eat and I'm going to have a little pow-wow with my friend, and we're gonna split. And if you don't like it, tough shit." Kal gave him a little look out of the corner of his eye. "You're stuck with me." 

"You say that like I have a problem being with you. I don't. I just don't _like_ you. You're not the Clark I remember." 

"You're right about that. I'm _not_ the kid you remember." Kal's shoulders straightened. "That kid is dead and gone, Lex. And he ain't never comin' back." 

Lex just continued to stare calmly at Clark, refusing to make the difference in his mind any longer. "That's a real pity; I'll miss him." 

"Get used to it," Kal growled. "Cause that's how it's gonna be." 

* * *

Kal's contact came through for them, and soon he and Lex were set up in a fairly luxurious penthouse. It was nothing like the Luthor penthouse, but it was still fancier than Kal's apartment and elegant enough to fit Lex's taste. The refrigerator was fully stocked, and the open safe in the bedroom was full of "convenience cash" for Morgan Edge's guests. Kal was on fairly good terms with his boss, and ended up with thirty thousand dollars, split between himself and Lex. 

Kal was sitting on the edge of the bed, phone in hand as he checked his messages, turned down two more jobs, and arranged for someone to check up on his apartment until he got back. Lex had insisted on being there for the phone calls, but the honest truth was that Kal really didn't mind. He liked having Lex close, he liked having Lex _period,_ depending on him and he grinned wolfishly as he hung up the phone. "Free and clear, big man, free and fucking _clear._ " 

He was in a much better mood, not having heard the voice in almost 24 hours now, his scar had stopped hurting, and he was almost... happy. And he was definitely ready to fuck. He wasn't used to waiting so long between rolls in the hay, and Lex was looking more and more like the perfect prospect, only... he couldn't. And he wasn't quite sure why. 

Lex had his own doubts about being free and clear, but he didn't say anything to contradict Clark, just sat on the bed beside him. "You going to tell me what's going on?" At some point, Clark's shirt had come unbuttoned again--seemed as if Kal didn't really like wearing clothes and wore as little of them as possible--and he could see the ugly scar that marred Clark's chest, and knew for a fact it hadn't been there before. 

"Sure," Kal shrugged. "We're hiding here until I can talk to Tony again in the morning, and he's going to scope out the sitch in Metropolis. Once I'm sure it's safe, we're heading back there and I'm puttin' you up in my place, where I can keep an eye on you, and I'll call your Daddy Warbucks and let him know you're okay. And if I have to talk to that Limey bastard one more time, I'm gonna pop his head like a rotten orange." 

Lex gave a little snicker at the thought of Clark popping Dominic's head like that, but frowned at the mention of his father. "Clark, I don't want my father to know." 

Kal shrugged. "I get that, but he _is_ the one who went all apeshit to find you, not that cunt you got hitched to." He kicked back on the bed. "Paid me anything I asked for, and gave me all the shit I needed, including that boat. Even bought my time from Mr. Edge so I'd be his boy until I found you. You ask me--which you didn't, but this is on the house--it's time to tell 'em all to fuck off and die, and go do your own thing." 

Lex stayed sitting on the side of the bed as he watched Clark lay down, watched his shirt flare out beside him and expose his chest completely. "That's an ugly scar, Clark." 

"Yeah, well, shit happens." Kal growled softly as he reached down and started to button his shirt up. 

"You don't have to do that. I don't mind seeing it." In fact, it fascinated Lex, because he was finally remembering where he'd seen the symbol before, on the key and in the caves, and why he was associating those two things with Clark. 

"I mind," he answered back shortly, finishing the placket of buttons rapidly before settling back on the bed. "Why the hell do you care, anyway?" 

"Because you--well, Clark, at any rate--are my friend, and I'm just curious as to what hurt my friend so badly as to leave this kind of a mark." He touched Clark's shirt gently, rubbing over the rough, ugly raised lines. "I know some doctors who can take it off for you," he continued softly. "They won't even leave a mark; it'll be like the scar was never there." 

"Thanks but no thanks; don't think it'd work quite like that with me," Kal answered shortly. All the talk of his scar was making him testy, and he didn't like being testy. "How's your knee?" he asked, changing the subject and looking at the offending joint. 

"It hurts, but I don't think anything is broken," Lex answered, letting Clark change the subject. "I'll have to have an orthopedist look at it when we get settled, but I think it's just sprained. 

Kal looked through skin and muscle, inspecting the bone and the joint itself for a moment. "Yeah, nothing's broken, but I can't speak for anything else cause I don't know what I'm lookin' at." He closed his eyes to shut the x-ray off, and stared back up at the ceiling. 

Lex just filed that little piece of information away in the back of his still-foggy brain, knowing that it was an important piece of the Clark puzzle, but not quite sure what it was yet. The puzzle kept coming back to the ring on Clark's finger, no matter how he turned it in his head to look at it. He kept remembering a Clark who had all but propositioned him, a Clark who had agreed to go to Metropolis with him, shack up together in the penthouse, and a Clark who wasn't afraid to take what he wanted. The Clark he remembered doing those things had a ring like this one had, and he was working out the connection between Clark, Kal, and the ring. 

When nothing else was forthcoming from Lex, Kal changed the subject again. "You hungry?" 

"No, I'm not. Those sandwiches are still holding me over." A beat. "I think I am going to take a bath, though." A little look at Clark up through his eyelashes, knowing exactly what he was offering, and he knew that Kal would take it. Truth be told he didn't mind; he wanted it too, in fact, because this Kal fascinated him, and he knew Kal would be the aggressor when Clark wouldn't be. "Can you help me?" 

"I thought you'd never ask." Kal gave a vulpine grin, showing just the tips of his pointed incisors, and for a brief second, Lex wondered if he'd gotten himself in over his head. But he had _only_ that brief second to think, because in the next second he was being lowered into the two-person tub in the bathroom, and the tub was being filled with hot water. He realized that somewhere in the transportation process he'd been undressed, because he was naked, and his clothes were tossed somewhere to the side that wasn't in the way. 

But instead of getting in the tub with him, Kal first crouched beside him on the floor, picking up the soap from the side of the tub, lathering it up in his hands, and started washing Lex. Gentle, but firm strokes over Lex's skin that spread the lather and scrubbed the dirt and dead skin away. Started with his hand, over his wrist, up to his shoulder, and then down his chest, and Lex sighed. Kal's hands were just rough enough to sensitize his skin, just firm enough to wash the filth away, and just strong enough to be a pleasant massage. His body went lax under the pressure, wherever Kal washed. 

Kal's cock was hardening with every windy sigh that Lex let out as he relaxed. Yeah, this was going to end up being the world's longest foreplay session, because as soon as Kal hauled Lex out of the tub, he was going to fuck him. Couldn't stand waiting any longer, and he was so wrapped up in washing Lex's body with his hands that at first he didn't feel gentle fingers rubbing the soap over his ring, but when it started to slide off, he balled up his fist and jerked it back as though he'd been scalded. "What the fuck?" 

Lex had _almost_ had the ring off, but when Clark jerked back, he sighed. "Clark, I admit I don't remember a lot of things, but what I do remember? That ring meant bad things for you. Give it to me, Clark, please." No response, just a glare. "I've trusted you without question. I've followed you, I've done what you've asked, now it's your turn to trust me." 

Wrong thing to say. "Fucking trust you? Okay. How's this? I trusted you to be my friend and not fuck me off, but you had your head so far up Helen's cunt you couldn't see that she was playin' you and Lionel off each other like a couple of suckers. She wanted your money and his power, and if she got hitched to you, she was halfway there, not to mention she was fucking with your head worse than Desiree ever did." Kal kept glaring. "You're not getting your hands on my ring, Lex. Fuckin' forget it." 

Lex didn't make any answer to that, just held his hand out for the ring. 

Kal used that hand to haul Lex out of the tub. Half crazed with lust and anger, he didn't wince when Lex's knee buckled under him, just dragging him over until he could pick him up, still soaking wet, and tossed him on the bed. He crawled right in afterwards, hands locking on Lex's ankles and pushing them apart. "Could she give you this, Lex? Could she put you on your back and fuck you hard? Like you promised me?" He licked up Lex's chest, ignoring the taste of soap. "Could she touch you like this?" His hands stroked roughly over Lex's body, pinching his nipples, stroking a hard cock, spreading his thighs. "You kept telling me to wait, Lex. Because the time wasn't right, because of your father, whatever. You know what? Fuck you. Fuck you, fuck your right time, and fuck your waiting. I should have done this the first time you told me no, but I was too much of a fucking coward to do it." He sealed his mouth over Lex's and kissed him hard, still roughly stroking Lex's cock as it hardened in his hand. 

Lex cried out involuntarily as his injured knee was stretched, but then Clark was on top of him, touching and kissing and demanding and Lex gave. His body arched against Clark's, mouth opened to accept the harsh kisses, stroking back with his tongue as his hands moved to thread through unruly black hair and pull him closer. No, Helen hadn't been able to do this for him, and he welcomed it from Clark now. 

He couldn't tell Clark the real reason why he'd waited, because of the lies, the secrets, the manipulations, because he knew it would only make him angrier and risk him getting hurt. Instead, he accepted it, begged for more as he raised himself up as much as he could, wincing as his knee gave another protest. 

Kal didn't question Lex's acceptance or the fact that he asked for more, he just indulged it. His jeans disappeared in an instant, his shirt gone not long after it, boots kicked off before he could take a breath, and Kal was lying naked on top of Lex, hard cocks thrusting against each other as he yanked Lex's head back, sucking a vivid mark onto his throat. It contrasted brightly with the fading marks and bruises on Lex's body, and Kal licked over it with satisfaction. He sucked it hard again, brightening and raising the lividity, and once he was done, he licked over it again, and then looked down at Lex. 

Lex didn't let Clark look for long; his fingers gripped tightly in Clark's hair again and jerked his mouth down, kissing him savagely, his legs wrapping around and through Clark's thighs as their cocks kept thrusting deliciously together. His tongue took control of the rough, heavy kisses and taught Clark finesse, how to stab deeply without being overly rough, how to tease and please with a single swipe. 

And Kal was an apt pupil. He absorbed the lessons almost instantly, kissing Lex again and again, the untamed kisses of before evolving into deeper but no less primal demands. One large hand reached down and wrapped around both of their cocks, stroking and rubbing the lengths together, sucking down the vibrating moans from Lex's throat as he replaced them with his own. 

And then the moan turned into a scream as his scar flared, burned brighter than it ever had before, and sent a searing jolt of fire and pain radiating from his chest to his brain. He let go of Lex before he could hurt him, and rolled onto the floor, landing on his knees, and burying his face in the mattress as the agony washed over him. 

_this will not happen, kal-el. you will not become slave to this man nor to this planet. it will not be allowed._

Lex had been terrified by the shrill agonized scream that spilled from his friend, and he moved as quickly as he could to the side of the bed, running his fingers through Clark's hair. "What's wrong, Clark?" he asked in a soft whisper. "Let me help." 

"You can't!" Kal sat up and flung Lex across the bed as carefully as he could. "Get away, before he hurts you!" He wrapped his arms around his knees, pulling his legs up to hide the scar on his chest. 

Lex crawled back across the bed. "I trust you, Clark. Because I know you're in there somewhere, and whatever is happening, I know you won't let it hurt me." He stopped on the edge of the bed, and pushed Clark's arms down so his legs fell. Once they were out flat, he climbed off the bed and onto Clark's lap, leaning over against his chest and starting to trace the scar with his tongue. 

Kal couldn't help the little keening wails of anguish that touching the scar brought him. It was a bright, flaring pain, like Kal had never felt before, and it was engulfing him. From his toes to his fingertips, he felt as though he was nothing but a single column of fire, but instead of trying to throw Lex off of him, he hugged. Tightly, clinging to him like Lex was a lifeline and he was drowning. 

Lex didn't wince under the too-tight cling, and he stroked Clark's back furiously, moving from licks to kisses, along the outer edge of the pentangle, sucking lightly along the raised ridge. "It's going to be all right, Clark. I don't know what's wrong with you, but it's going to be all right. We're going to be all right. We're going to take care of each other." He ran his hands over Kal's shoulders, hoping to feel the trembling ease. 

Through the pain roaring in his ears, Kal heard Lex talking to him. Promising to take care of him, and he exploded. He tossed Lex back onto the bed and kissed him hard, whimpering. "Thank you, thank you, thank you." Then he tore himself away from Lex and started screaming at himself. 

"Get out, get out, get out of my fucking head, get out of my fucking life!" he roared. "You can't make me do this! You can't, you won't, I'm stronger than that!" He pointed to Lex. "I'm strong like he is; he _makes_ me strong and that's why you're scared of him! You can't, you _don't_ control me anymore, get out, get out!!" 

Lex was panicked as he lay on the bed, watching Clark seemingly have a fit on the floor, convulsing and howling in agony as he screamed at himself, and then Clark's body collapsed. "Clark!!" 

The volume of Kal's screams had escalated as he felt the scar on his chest writhing. Then suddenly, he stopped screaming as his body collapsed in on itself. He was panting silently, harsh breaths as he felt as though his chest were being ripped asunder. 

And then, silence. In the room, in his head, and Kal raised his hands to his chest. The skin was smooth, unblemished, and cool to his touch. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Lex's hand touched his shoulder, and he looked up, shirt falling open to reveal his unmarked skin. "He's gone," Kal said softly. "He's gone. And you're safe." 

"Who's gone?" Lex asked softly, stroking his hand over the smooth skin that had been marred with an ugly scar only seconds ago. "Who's gone, Clark?" 

"My father," Kal answered back softly. "My real father. He's gone." He rubbed his hand over his chest, stroking Lex's in the process. "He's gone. He can't hurt you now." Kal followed Lex's arm up to his cheek, and stroked the silky skin there gently. "He won't hurt you again." 

"Clark, I don't understand," Lex said softly. "I don't understand." He turned his face into Clark's touch, and kissed Clark's palm gently. "Tell me, so I can." 

Kal caught Lex's face in his hand. "Tell me why, first," he said softly. "Tell me why you picked her over me." 

Lex didn't try to look away. "Because I knew you were hiding something," he confessed softly. "And I knew that Helen was trying to find out what it was. She and my father, they were too close for me to be comfortable about it, and I knew Dad would never tell me. So I tried to get it out of Helen." A little pause. "I have a vial of your blood. I stole it out of Helen's office, and I switched it with my own. I gave her the switched vial, and yours is hidden in my safe, in a refrigerated box." A deep breath, but Clark interrupted. 

"Your dad made a copy of the key," Kal said. "Out of Kryptonite--meteor rock," he clarified. "He was going to use it in the cave, to activate the wall. But I stole the key, because I needed it." 

"Key?" Lex asked. 

"Yeah. The metal thing you had before the tornado. The octagonal disc." Kal drummed his fingers on the bed. "It's a key, to a space ship. And to the wall in the cave. It was left for me, so I could find it and find what was left of my people's knowledge." He steepled his fingers together. "My world is--was--called Krypton. It was destroyed. I don't know by what." He gazed at Lex over the tips of his fingers. "That's what Dr. Swann's interest in me is; he knows about my world. He's been studying it for years; he knows how to translate their language and everything, even knows where my world was. But it's not there anymore. He thinks... the arrival of the meteors were a result of the planet's destruction. He even gave me their last message. _This is Kal-El of Krypton. Our infant son, our last hope... Please protect him and deliver him from evil. We will be with you, Kal-El, for all the days of your life._ That's why I'm Kal. Kal is my name; it's who I am." 

"But--" Lex blinked. "That's... but how?" 

"There's more, Lex." Kal interrupted before Lex could get cranked up with his questions. "The writing on the walls of the caves under Smallville is the writing of my people. I don't know how, but the key to my spaceship fits into the wall, and it activated. It gave me knowledge of who I am, of what I am, where I'm from. Dr. Walden did the same thing, and the power he got from it killed him." 

He kept staring over the tips of his fingers. "Walden was right; I am a danger to the world, Lex. My father--my real father, I mean--left a message for me inside the ship. _On this third planet from this star Sol, you will be a god among men. They're a flawed race. Rule them with strength, my son. That is where your greatness lies._ That's what my father thinks my destiny is. To rule the world. And he's afraid of you, Lex. Because he thinks you could stop me." 

"I can't stop you from doing anything," Lex breathed, trying to take in the rest of what he was being told. One of the many theories he'd formulated while sitting in his locked room, staring at the replay of the wreck over and over again, and he'd discarded it as far-fetched. Even when Walden had woken from the coma, he'd suspected it was more the ravings of a lunatic man mixed with recent memories, rather than the truth. "But you've been fighting it?" 

Kal rolled his eyes. "Of course I've been fighting it, Lex, what the hell do you think? You think I want to rule this place? No thanks." His fingers drummed on the bed again. "I just don't know why he was afraid of you. He made your plane go down." 

"Can I--" 

"See the ship? No. I blew it up, because it was threatening to kill everybody I cared about. So I stole your father's Kryptonite key, and destroyed the ship. That's... that's what killed my mother's baby." His voice choked on that, even with the red Kryptonite ring. "So I ran." 

Lex swallowed hard. "The baby died? I'm sorry, Clark, I know you were wanting a family." 

Kal pulled away from the reassuring touch. "No, I don't. Not anymore. I killed the baby, Dad told me to leave, Mom didn't give a shit, and Chloe's working for your father now. So I think I'm fine without a family." 

Lex took Clark's hand again, despite the fact he'd jerked it away. "Then let me be your family, Clark." 

Kal looked down at his hand in Lex's, watched light dancing in the red stone of the class ring, and he eased it off his hand, putting the ring in Lex's palm. "All right," Clark said softly, shuddering as the ring slid off and he felt cut open to the quick. 

Lex smiled at the ring in his palm, and put it on the bedside table, then pulled Clark back into the bed with him. "We're going to make an amazing team, Clark." 

* * *

It was two weeks before Lex had made a full _physical_ recovery, but he knew the mental recovery was going to take much longer. He and Clark had experimented with the red Kryptonite, discovering how long Clark would wear it before Lex's influence on him was diminished, seeing how long before Clark was dangerous again. 

Clark had had his motorcycle shipped to Fort Worth, and he'd picked it up as soon as it had arrived, leaving the stolen car behind in favor of his own transportation. The money from his boss had bought him and Lex both helmets, jackets, and boots, and at the moment, Clark was sitting on the bike, looking up at Lex. "You sure you're ready to head back?" 

Lex patted his jacket pocket, making sure the ring was safely in the box and still on his person. "Yes, Clark, I'm sure. Dad's been getting impatient, and Dominic's ready to skin him." He climbed onto the motorcycle behind his lover. 

"And Mr. Edge?" 

"Isn't going to bother you again. I bought your contract out." Little grin. I think he was a little bit afraid to tell me no; seems he's gotten the idea that I've turned you into my personal enforcer." 

"Can't imagine where he might have gotten that idea." He turned his head over his shoulder and into the kiss Lex was offering him. "And Helen?" 

"Has been duly evicted from the mansion, served with divorce papers, and I've recovered most of the money she spent." He handed Clark a packet of papers and reports. "This is what she was working on; the blood analysis. It came back as human, but mutated by the meteor--by Kryptonite. Your secret is safe." 

Clark passed the packet back unopened, and it went into the motorcycle's saddlebag. "I trust you, Lex." 

Lex's arms tightened around Clark's midsection as the motorcycle roared into life. "I trust you too, Clark." 

Clark kicked the bike into gear and they started back towards Metropolis. He was quiet for long moments until they reached the state line, and then he stopped. "You know, Lex, my father was right. You are going to change my destiny," he said thoughtfully. 

"For the better, I hope," Lex answered back as they crossed the Texas state line, and went roaring back towards their future. 


End file.
